For the first time in the history of the Olympic Games, the opening ceremony will not be held in a stadium but in the open air. For several years, the Seine has been preparing to be, for one evening, the center of the world for more than a billion television viewers.
Time seems to have stopped on the Parisian river. For a few days now, no tourist boats or merchant ships have been sailing on the Seine. The permanent barges have also been relocated downstream. The countdown to the opening ceremony of the XXXIII Olympiad comes to an end.
While on the quays and on some bridges, workers are busy setting up the last stands that will accommodate more than 325,000 spectators, on the water, the ceremony boats are already in the starting blocks. New pontoons have also been set up along the banks. Over six kilometers between the Austerlitz bridge and the Iéna bridge, the river parade will transport the athletes of the delegations, nearly 10,000, on 85 boats. A key criterion that every boat must have in order to parade: a terrace. The only information known to date: Greece, the country that initiated the Olympics, will be at the head of the armada and France, the host country, will be at the back of the procession.
A more than well-kept secret
Among these ships, the Cashmerewhich some rumors claim will be the first in the parade, a sumptuous 22-meter-long, 55-ton yacht, the only 100% electric boat in the parade and which can accommodate around thirty people on board. Between the port of Javel and the Musée d’Orsay, Arnaud Daniel, general manager of the Seine activities of Sodexo Live!, which includes three companies (Yachts de Paris, Batobus and Bateaux Parisiens), tells us about this crazy adventure to which he and his teams have been 100% dedicated for several months. We have a road book, exactly like on the Paris-Dakar, each boat knows to the second when it has to pass under a bridge. Each boat will have a timing to the second. »
Dylan Diaz, the young captain, dressed to the nines and looking serene, only explains that he has received special training for July 26, training that will end on simulators. He has perfect control of his ship, regardless of the weather conditions, knowing that he has to be very precise when you know that some Parisian bridges are very low when the Seine is in flood.
After a few nautical miles on very calm water, the Cashmere mooring alongside the Ocean liner. ” This ship is the largest event boat with its more than 1,200m², says Arnaud Daniel, not a little proudly. It can accommodate up to 800 people. “This veritable river palace will have the French delegation on board. A secret revealed over a year ago by Tony Estanguet, president of the Paris Olympics Organizing Committee. Because no one knows which ship will host which delegation.
“ First we receive code names. For example, the Cashmere is assigned the code name “lemon”. It will only be discovered on D-Day which delegation corresponds to this code name and where it will be located in the procession. Secrecy is at its maximum and that is why the boats are not decorated. “From then on, each delegation will board the boat assigned to it with its flags so that the secret is best kept. At the end of the ceremony, each boat will anchor at a dedicated location along the river.
A security issue among many others, linked to current geopolitics. Arnaud Daniel also claims to work every day with the River Brigade and the BRI, even before the Olympics. For example, he lends boats to the Prefecture to carry out exercises.
Security, a crucial issue of the ceremony
Because the party has to be beautiful, but also that it goes off without a hitch. Since July 18, the Seine, where piloting and diving are known to be dangerous, has been placed in an ultra-secure perimeter. To meet security requirements, 120 members of the gendarmerie, the national police, customs, the prison administration and the army worked together on a boat inspection operation at the beginning of the week. Foreign delegations from Austria, the United Arab Emirates and Bulgaria came to lend them a hand.
As for the River Brigade teams, a hundred people, they are also training so that no event spoils the party. This morning in mid-July, an assault on a boat is simulated. The weather is bad but nothing slows down the training, on the contrary since they multiply as the D-day approaches. And because of the ceremony and certain areas that will be more difficult to access, the reconnaissance is increasing.
On the deck of a riverboat and under the concentrated gaze of an instructor, Naxos, Poseidon And Milosthree Zodiacs from the River Brigade (all named after gods or Greek islands) speed past. On board, hooded men armed to the teeth surround the boat and enter the lower deck of the riverboat at full speed. In a few seconds, they neutralize it and carry out all the necessary security checks. A little further on, a stone’s throw from Notre-Dame, police officers wearing riot gear practice disembarking as quickly as possible on a quay to come and reinforce land teams and then return to their marine base.
” The River Brigade is particularly committed to the security arrangements for the Olympic ceremony and the nautical events on the Seine. Vigilance is constant, 365 days a year. We work on mobility and the unexpected “, explains Sophie Malherbe-Mayeux, head of the River Brigade at the Public Order and Traffic Department, Paris Police Prefecture. And to do this, around a hundred officers are at work, both underwater and on the water, with intervention companies as reinforcements. “ We will rise to this real challenge “, continues Sophie Malherbe-Mayeux, without revealing the number of agents who will be mobilized this Friday, July 26.
Serenity, pride and impatience are the words that come to mind for those working on the Seine for the ceremony. By everyone’s opinion, everything is ready for the big day and haste dominates. At this time, the real highway that is the Seine is very calm, the boats of the armada have been parked upstream of the river since July 20 and are secured by the police to allow mine clearance and also for the captains and technicians to make the final adjustments.
On the evening of July 26, in addition to the 85 athletes’ boats, more than 80 other boats will also participate in the parade, those of the VIPs, those of the show and of course those of security. In addition, some 3,000 dancers, musicians, actors will storm the two banks and the bridges, on a 6-kilometer course. A historical spectacle, prepared to the millimeter, which should last about two hours. Hoping that the god Helios will be there…
